An organic EL element is composed of a pair of electrodes and an organic EL layer sandwiched therebetween, at least one of the electrodes being transparent or translucent, and the organic EL layer including a light-emitting layer made from an organic light-emitting material. When a voltage is applied between the one pair of the electrodes of the organic EL element having such a structure, electrons are injected from a cathode into the light emitting layer, and holes are injected from an anode into the light emitting later and then they recombine in the light emitting layer. The light-emitting material in the light-emitting layer is excited by the energy generated at the time, and emits light in the light-emitting layer. An organic EL device mentioned herein is composed of the organic EL element formed on a substrate. For example, an organic EL device composed of an organic EL element formed on a planar substrate may be used as, for example, a planar light source, a segment display unit, or a dot matrix display device.
An organic EL element is deteriorated by exposure to water vapor or oxygen. As a countermeasure, for example, an anode, an organic EL layer including a light-emitting layer, and a cathode are sequentially stacked in this order on a substrate such as a glass substrate thereby producing an organic EL element, and then the whole of the organic EL element is covered with an inorganic passivation film composed of silicon nitride, and a resin sealing film composed of resin and formed on the surface of the inorganic passivation film, thus preventing deterioration of the organic EL element by exposure to water vapor (for example, see Patent Document 1). Here, the inorganic passivation film is formed by a plasma CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) method or sputtering method.
Patent Document 1: JP2000-223264 A